


Harvest Moon

by primalrageanddumbassery



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Amnesia, Cecil has color changing eyes, I WROTE AN ENTIRE FIC PURELY SO I COULD USE THAT TAG I SAW IT ONCE AND I LOVED IT SO MUCH, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I guess???, LEGIT THE ONLY REASON I WROTE THIS IS TO USE THAT TAG, M/M, One-sided pining, Wow! Angst in the The Scientist-Palmer household, carlos is pining, carlos is so SAD you guys, guys chill it ends up ok, i was sad there wasnt any angst fics about this yet, it counts as amnesia i think, no beta we die like interns, the radio station GLOWS guys, the radio station is weird as fuck, youve heard how the episode ends right? Its fine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:21:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25158430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/primalrageanddumbassery/pseuds/primalrageanddumbassery
Summary: SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 149-Carlos finally exists again. Which would be great if his husband could remember him.It all has to (re)start somewhere.
Relationships: Carlos/Cecil Palmer
Comments: 5
Kudos: 21





	Harvest Moon

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, the song is Harvest Moon by Neil Young. Its stuck in my head cause I'm learning it on guitar (ooh! aah!)  
> Such a good song aaaaa you should listen to this cover of it: https://youtu.be/RI16dMyPZh4  
> Also! When I posted last night for the first time I said I would repost it edited. Well guess what kiddos? Edited. Enjoy the trainwreck.  
> Also for the love of God if somebody could tell me how to use italics on AO3 on mobile I will name my firstborn child after you  
> Edit: YA BITCH DONE FIGURED IT OUT  
> you put the letters em inside of <> and then put the same thing but with a / before the last > when you finish  
> IM SMART IM SMART HAHAHAHAHAAAHAAA

_I'm still in love with you  
I wanna see you dance again  
Yes, I'm still in love with you  
On a harvest moon ___

____

__________________

____

Carlos took a deep, deep breath. It was kind of refreshing just to breathe again after a few weeks of not existing. Even so, that small comfort didn't make the cause of the deep breath any less painful. He was outside the radio station, as he had been a million times. The unnaturally luminescent, almost ultraviolet bricks cast their weird glow over the green roses in the small garden plot that barked if you got too close. The sight that had, at first, both intrigued and terrified him, now felt so much like home. He could practically smell the mint and strawberry scent of his husband. He jammed his hands in the pockets of his Out-In-Public labcoat. He had approximately 37 seconds before Cecil walked out the door, purple headphones around his neck and swinging the cord like a tiny lasso as he whistled tunelessly. A month ago, had Cecil seen Carlos waiting for him outside of work, he would've lit up like a kid on Christmas and rushed over to give his husband a hug. But _now... _  
Cecil opened the glass door, one hand holding the headphone cord which he swung in circles and the other hand in the pocket of his bright pink cargo shorts. He glanced up at Carlos as he passed, giving a friendly little wave and a smile but nothing more. Carlos deflated. He wasn't sure what he'd expected- Cecil didn't remember him, as was evident by the bachelor pad Cecil now lived in (and how all of Cecil's possessions corresponded to his false memories by leaving their house Carlos still didn't understand). Carlos had made it a point in the past few days to be seen by Cecil as often as possible, but even still Carlos' husband paid him little mind. Which lead to this plan.  
Cecil was just about to walk right on past Carlos, but Carlos cleared his throat and called, "Wait!" Cecil turned on his heel.  
"Yes?" the radio host asked, his color-changing eyes flashing a friendly and curious baby blue. Carlos swallowed hard.  
"You're Cecil, right?" he asked weakly.  
"Mhm! Why?" His face fell. "Oh God, is this about something I said on air? Look, I'll shut up about the garden gnomes, I _swear _I don't need to be reeducated-" "No!" Carlos put up his hands. "No, it's not anything like that." He grimaced, remembering the multitudinous times that his husband had come home after reeducation. He was always so pale after, so dazed. Carlos hated the thought of being the one to subject his Cecil to whatever caused him such pain. Cecil's tensed up shoulders relaxed. "Oh, okay. Good. Did you need something?" "Yeah, actually. I'm, um, I'm Carlos," Carlos said as calmly as he could, trying his hardest not to let his voice crack. "I'm a big fan of your show." Cecil's face broke into a wide grin.  
"You are?" Carlos nodded, plastering on a smile.  
"Yeah, I listen every week. I haven't missed an episode in the almost 7 years." Cecil's already huge smile widened even bigger than Carlos thought he was capable of.  
"Wow, thank you! That means a lot to me. You've been in Night Vale how long again?"  
"Seven years," Carlos replied, messing with a stray strand of hair that was tickling his neck. "I'm, uh, I'm a scientist." Cecil smirked.  
"We have all been scientists at one point or another," he remarked. Carlos didn't know how to respond to that the first time Cecil said it over the radio and he certainly didn't know how to respond now. He offered a small chuckle instead.  
"Well, it was nice to meet you, Carlos the Scientist," Cecil said, turning to leave. _Shit, _Carlos thought. Gotta do it now, quick!_  
"Uh, hey, actually? Cecil?" Cecil turned back to face him, his third eyebrow arching curiously. "I was wondering if, um, you'd want to get dinner or something?"  
Cecil seemed to have been surprised by that.  
"Oh! Wow, um..."  
"I don't mean to sound forward," Carlos said quickly, "I just... I've wanted to get to know you for ages," he said, twisting his ponytail nervously, hoping his anxiety didn't show. "I know we've never met, but I feel like we have. I- geez, this sounds kinda creepy, huh? I'm-"  
"I'm free on Thursday evening," Cecil offered. A wave of relief washed over Carlos.  
"Y-yeah! Yeah, Thursday sounds great!" Cecil grabbed Carlos' arm and started to trace his finger along the Scientist's skin. It took a second to realize that Cecil was writing his phone number, a sparkly purplish ink trailing after his finger as if he were writing with a pen. As if Carlos had any trouble remembering his husband's phone number.  
"Call me tonight and we can figure it out, okay?" Cecil asked. Carlos nodded, grinning._____

________ _ _

"So, um, yeah. Bye," Carlos said softly. He wanted nothing more than to follow up with _"I love you" _but knowing that it wouldn't be well received, he turned to leave quickly. He hoped Cecil thought he was just as attractive as the first time they met. That might be the only thing that could save their primarily nonexistent relationship.  
"Goodbye, Carlos," Cecil called after him in a voice that sounded confused but definitely intrigued.  
_I hope this works, Carlos thought. _Dammit, I hope this works. ______

______ _ _

**Author's Note:**

> One quick thing before I start the notes- I know this leaves off on a bit of a cliffhanger but if you've heard the episode you know how this ends and I don't trust my ability to NOT make this boring if it continues  
> Anyways, NOTES  
> Thank you for readinggggggg  
> Or, y'know, scrolling all the way to the end and stumbling across this note. In either case, I hope you leave a comment or a Kudos if you enjoyed it! Or comment if you didn't. Hell, just comment to say hi. I won't judge, I'm hella lonely.  
> 1 kudos or comment equals 1 F in the chat for this crackhead who just finished watching Hamilton on Disney+ and got absolutely FLOORED by the gasp at the end. Fellas I am STILL crying. Both equals an F in the chat and a hug cause I'm sure we both need one rn. Stay strong you beautiful valid person!!!!  
> And again, listen to Harvest Moon cause it's a BOP and a half  
> The link again cause I KNOW you didn't listen to it when I posted it before-  
> https://youtu.be/RI16dMyPZh4


End file.
